From mbed to offline IDE

[d_aliaga]

Posted on April 05, 2016 at 06:17

Hello.

I would like to ask a question that might sound very basic almost silly to you, so my apologies.

I am now programming a STM32F091 Nucleo board using mbed. (since it says ''mbed enabled'' and mbed is easy to learn). I have done several projects already.. (SPI, Touch panel, LCDs, Stepper motor control etc)

However I would like to try and program it using an offline IDE. I have no idea where to start but reading some resources I learned that I can use eclipse and GCC .

My first and main question is: If I do succeed in programming it (with Eclipse and flashing it with the ST-LINK utility - or stlink in my mac) can I go back and program it with mbed again? 

I know it might sound silly but I am afraid I might erase some kind of bootloader or something and later wont be able to reprogram it with mbed (I only have one nucleo and I need to show my work to my supervisor so I cant risk it)

I would appreciate a reply on this.

Other than that I have the following questions

-I read 

http://visualgdb.com/tutorials/arm/stm32/

 that you can program a STM32 with visual studio... is this so?? This is the first time I heard something like this  (since so far I have heard only of IAR and Keil etc)

-Can someone tell me of a good book, tutorial or resource to learn how to program the STM32 nucleo (or other STM32 processor). So far of what I have read, it seems that the learning curve is much much steep than say mbed -which if you know C++ you can master easily)

Thanks again for any help you can give me

[Nesrine M_O]

Posted on April 05, 2016 at 10:59

Hi KR1,

•I have no idea where to start but reading some resources I learned that I can use eclipse and GCC:

I recommend you to use the

http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/FM147/CL1794/SC961/SS1533/PF261797?s_searchtype=keyword

, is a free multi-OS software development environment based on Eclipse, which supports the full range of STM32 microcontrollers and associated boards.

•If I do succeed in programming it (with Eclipse and flashing it with the ST-LINK utility - or stlink in my mac) can I go back and program it with mbed again? 

Of course yes

•Can someone tell me of a good book, tutorial or resource to learn how to program the STM32 nucleo (or other STM32 processor). So far of what I have read, it seems that the learning curve is much much steep than say mbed -which if you know C++ you can master easily)

I recommend you to have a look to the

http://www.st.com/st-web-ui/static/active/en/resource/technical/document/user_manual/DM00105928.pdf?s_searchtype=keyword

User manual: this document provides guidelines to beginners on how to build and run a sample application and allows them to build and debug their application based on STM32 Nucleo board.

Also you can find a full set of running examples within the STM32Cube firmware package (example

http://www.st.com/web/catalog/tools/FM147/CL1794/SC961/SS1743/LN1897/PF259243?s_searchtype=partnumber

)

-Syrine-

[AvaTar]

Posted on April 05, 2016 at 12:21

> I recommend you to use the

http://www.st.com/web/en/catalog/tools/FM147/CL1794/SC961/SS1533/PF261797?s_searchtype=keyword

, ...

 

I would recommend a free version of IAR Workbench (size limited), Atollic TrueStudio

(unlimited), or Keil uVision (size limited) instead.

Or,

http://www.emblocks.org/web/

, which is free, without limitations, and without forcing you to register.

>> •If I do succeed in programming it (with Eclipse and flashing it with the ST-LINK utility - or stlink in my mac) can I go back and program it with mbed again? 

 

> Of course yes

 

I'm not so sure. I never used mbed myself, but similar tools often require a special ''bootloader'' application, that facilitates the program download without a debugger or offline-IDE.

To go back to mbed, you might need to reflash this loader. I would at least check this before.

[Radosław]

Posted on April 05, 2016 at 19:40

Size limited  denies to be FREE